The Reverse Sweeptag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-812486424237565552011-06-01T12:38:59+01:00An acerbic and irreverent twist on the wonderful world of cricketTypePadSome inspiration for Strauss and Cook - the greatest opening stand in Test history #PakvEngtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a0120a735b61b970b014e88d05fdb970d2011-06-01T12:38:59+01:002012-02-06T06:15:27+00:00This week is Jack Hobbs week on the Reverse Sweep to commemorate the release of a new biography on the Master by Leo McKinstry (buy it on Amazon here). Yesterday, we explained why Hobbs has been one of our cricket heroes since childhood. Today, we focus on the best of his many great partnerships for England with Yorkshire's Herbert Sutcliffe - the pair we selected to open in our All-time England and composite Ashes XIs. Quite simply the pair formed the best opening pair in the history of Test cricket. They amassed 3249 runs in only 38 innings with 15...The Reverse SweepThe England-Sri Lanka series features four of the best 22 Test batsmen evertag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a0120a735b61b970b0154328f2ea4970c2011-05-26T15:46:04+01:002011-05-26T15:46:04+01:00That’s quite some statement and one that most cricket aficionados would vehemently (and quite understandably) disagree with. However, if we take averages as our sole (and rather misleading) barometer and set the qualification criteria at a minimum of 20 Test innings, the 1st Test at Cardiff does feature statistically at least four of the best 22 batsmen in the history of the game (see full list here). In 22nd place is Mahela Jayawardene, who averages 53.82 from his 117 Tests. Four places higher is Thilan Samaraweera, the current cricketer with the largest amount of shrapnel in their body. He averages...The Reverse SweepHow England won the Ashes: Part 4 - Runs, runs, runs... tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a0120a735b61b970b0148c80e1040970c2011-01-27T08:36:37+00:002011-01-27T08:36:37+00:00Despite England finally managing to win on Australia Day of all days, we are still not bothered too much by the never ending story that is the one-day series. Time to look back again, then… With the notable exception of Jonathan Trott, England’s top six came into the Ashes series with doubts hanging over them after a collective poor return against Pakistan over the summer. Ian Bell, who had been injured for the Pakistan tests, was deemed a concern too given his previously poor record against Australia. The man considered the biggest concern was Alastair Cook, with some pundits, including...The Reverse SweepHow England won the Ashes: Part 2 - Inspired selectionstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a0120a735b61b970b0148c7913629970c2011-01-13T09:27:23+00:002011-01-13T09:27:23+00:00Let’s be honest, England have made a number of selection blunders in the make-up of their Ashes squads to tour Australia over the last 20 years. Who can forget that Martin McCague - with catastrophic results - was preferred to Angus Fraser in 1994/95? Or that Andrew Caddick was left out for the 1998/99 trip, despite taking 105 wickets in the summer of 1998. And then in the ill-fated 2006-07 series, that a rusty Ashley Giles got the nod over Monty Panesar for the first two tests. But there were no guffaws this time. On the contrary, the borderline selections...The Reverse SweepThe Boundary View: The Empire Strikes Back - Brisbane, Day Four tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a0120a735b61b970b0147e0342e97970b2010-11-28T07:06:38+00:002010-11-28T07:06:38+00:00Strauss goes from zero to hero Andrew Strauss copped quite a bit of tap for his third ball dismissal in the first innings, so to bounce back today with a hundred - especially with his side behind the eight ball at the start of play - exemplified hisimmense mental strength and resilience. The luck was with him as evidenced by his narrow escape to the first ball of the innings and Mitchell Johnson's butter fingers, but like Michael Hussey yesterday, Strauss deserved his slices of good fortune. He became the seventh Englishman to follow a 1st innings duck with a...The Reverse SweepAshes 100-1: 14 - The 25 Greatest Ashes Tests: Part 1 of 3tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a0120a735b61b970b0133f5a5dea7970b2010-11-11T08:15:00+00:002010-11-09T20:17:47+00:00England and Australia have competed in 321 Test matches since the first acknowledged Test started on 15 March 1877. Australia have the edge in the oldest international sports contest with 132 wins to England's 99 and there have been 90 draws. There have been many classic Tests in the battle for the little urn. In a three-part series, we have picked 25 of the best, which we will list chronologically. The Oval, 28-29 August 1882 - Australia won by 7 runs: The birth of the Ashes with Australia winning a stunning victory after bowling out England for 69 having set...The Reverse SweepAshes 100-1: 18 - All-time Ashes XItag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a0120a735b61b970b0133f5973751970b2010-11-07T08:30:00+00:002010-11-07T08:30:00+00:00We see that Cricinfo has invited its readers to pick their All-time Ashes XI. Given we have recently selected our own all-time Australia and England Ashes XIs, it seems apt to pick a composite Ashes XI from these 22 names: All-time Australian Ashes XI: The Openers, Number 3, 4 and 5, All-rounder, Wicketkeeper, Fast bowlers, Spin Kings All-time England Ashes XI: The Openers, Number 3, 4 and 5, All-rounder, Wicketkeeper, Fast bowlers, Spin King Openers Having selected five openers in our two sides – Len Hutton was picked at first drop in our England Ashes XI – we have a...The Reverse SweepAshes 100-1: 26 - Hobbs & Sutcliffe star in the best Ashes opening partnership of them alltag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a0120a735b61b970b0133f569275a970b2010-10-30T08:30:00+01:002010-10-30T08:30:00+01:00We've already showed our hand by selecting Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe as the openers in our All-time England Ashes XI. Quite simply the pair formed the best opening partnership in the history of test cricket. In 1926, with the series 0-0, the final test at The Oval would be timeless, which meant that whatever happened there would be a positive result. England had lost the last three Ashes 5-0, 3-0 and 4-1 and hadn't won a series since before the Great War, so much was at stake. England drafted in Percy Chapman as skipper and having won the toss...The Reverse SweepAshes 100-1: 29 - Don Bradman & the summer of 1930 that changed crickettag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a0120a735b61b970b0133f55a1a80970b2010-10-27T08:30:00+01:002010-10-27T08:30:00+01:00Don Bradman made his test match bow in the 1928/29 Ashes series, when an Australian team in transition was humbled 4-1 by an MCC side led by Percy Chapman, which was arguably the strongest that ever left English shores. Despite the favourable impression Bradman made in that series with 468 runs at 66.85 plus the fact that he had scored the then highest first-class core of 452* for New South Wales in the 1930 season, many seasoned observers like Fender and Cardus expected the 21 year old to struggle on English pitches due to his unorthodox cross-bat style. Indeed, most...The Reverse SweepAshes 100-1: 60 - All-time England Ashes XI: The Openers tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a0120a735b61b970b013487ad7325970c2010-09-26T08:30:00+01:002010-09-26T13:35:26+01:00Yesterday, we commenced our all-time Ashes XIs by naming our Australian opening pair (see here). Today, it is the turn of their English counterparts. A number of great English openers have graced Ashes encounters stretching all the way back to the good Doctor himself in the Victorian era. This left us with a lengthy initial long-list comprising the aforementioned WG Grace, as well as Jack Hobbs, Herbert Sutcliffe, Len Hutton, Geoff Boycott, Graham Gooch, Michael Atherton, John Edrich and Michael Vaughan. Gooch and Atherton were quickly discounted as despite both being very good batsmen, they met their respective nemeses' when...The Reverse SweepAshes 100-1: 75 - Andrew Strauss' difficult assignmenttag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a0120a735b61b970b0133f3fc921f970b2010-09-11T08:00:00+01:002010-09-08T16:28:48+01:00If Andrew Strauss is going to lead England to retaining the Ashes this winter then he is going to have to defeat history as well as Ricky Ponting's Australian side. Of course having regained the Ashes at The Oval last summer, England only have to draw the series to keep the little urn. But this is something they have never done when defending the Ashes in Australia. Indeed since 1900 (England pretty much dominated the Ashes until then), England have only managed to retain the Ashes four times down under. Retaining the Ashes In 1928-29, a star-studded England side ably...The Reverse SweepThe best 30 batsmen ever - Part 2/3 (20-11)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a0120a735b61b970b0133f0ee16ca970b2010-06-16T08:32:00+01:002010-08-04T08:19:34+01:00Last year we wrote a post for World Cricket Watch, where we named our top 20 batsmen of all time. As we explained yesterday, now seems a good time to revisit this. Firstly, so we can extend the list this time to 30. But secondly, because we are prepared to admit that we erred somewhat last time in placing Sachin Tendulkar behind Ricky Ponting in the all-time batting pantheon. Given that the Ashes were on at the time, we must have done it out of fear that Ponting would inspire his side to retain the little urn. Today, we count...The Reverse SweepWho are the best 20 batsmen ever? - Part 2 (10-1)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a0120a735b61b970b0120a7c95d5c970b2010-01-12T16:16:35+00:002010-02-20T09:03:12+00:00Continuing from Part 1 yesterday, which counted down the best batsmen from 20-11, here are numbers 10-1 in reverse order, with an additional comment at the end for those Test countries not represented in my list: 10. Victor Trumper (Australia) – 48 Tests, 8 100s, 13 50s, Average 39.04, HS 214* Widely acknowledged as the best Australian batsman before Bradman, Trumper was both stylish and versatile with a penchant for playing match-winning innings on treacherous wet wickets. After scoring 135 not out against England at Lord’s in 1899, Grace gifted Trumper his own bat with the inscription "From the present...The Reverse Sweep